Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A deep, prolonged bark, such as the sound made by hounds.
  • noun The position of one cornered by pursuers and forced to turn and fight at close quarters.
  • noun The position of having been checked or held at a distance.
  • intransitive verb To utter a deep, prolonged bark.
  • intransitive verb To pursue or challenge with barking.
  • intransitive verb To express by barking or howling.
  • intransitive verb To bring to bay.
  • adjective Reddish-brown.
  • noun A reddish brown.
  • noun A reddish-brown animal, especially a horse having a black mane and tail.
  • noun Architecture A part of a building marked off by vertical elements, such as columns or pilasters.
  • noun A bay window.
  • noun An opening or recess in a wall.
  • noun A section or compartment, as in a service station, barn, or aircraft, that is set off for a specific purpose.
  • noun A sickbay.
  • noun Computers A drive bay.
  • noun A body of water partially enclosed by land but with a wide mouth, affording access to the sea.
  • noun An area of land, such as an arm of prairie partially enclosed by woodland, that resembles in shape or formation a partially enclosed body of water.
  • noun Any of certain other trees or shrubs with aromatic foliage, such as the California laurel.
  • noun A crown or wreath made especially of the leaves and branches of the laurel and given as a sign of honor or victory.
  • noun Honor; renown.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A dam; a pond-head; an embankment.
  • Reddish or brownish-red, inclining to chestnut; rufous; badious; castaneous: applied most frequently to horses, but also to other animals displaying the same color.
  • noun A light woolen fabric (originally of a bay color), the manufacture of which was introduced into England in 1561 by refugees from France and the Netherlands: usually in plural bays, now, as singular, baize (which see).
  • noun A bay horse.
  • A poetical perversion of bathe.
  • To dam: as, to bay back the water.
  • noun The deep-toned barking of a dog in pursuit of game; especially, the barking of a pack of hounds.
  • noun The state of being so hard pressed, as a hunted animal by dogs and hunters, as to be compelled, from impossibility of escape, to turn and face the danger: with at or to: as, to be at bay, stand at bay, hold at bay (formerly also at a bay), bring to bay, etc.: often used figuratively, in these and other constructions, with reference to persons beset by enemies or held at a disadvantage: strait; distress.
  • noun The state of being kept off by the bold attitude of an opponent; the state of being prevented by an enemy, or by any kind of resistance, from making further advance: with at.
  • noun The bay-antler or bez-antler of a stag.
  • noun In hydraulic engineering, an opening through a dam or bulkhead for the passage of water, generally capable of regulation by gates or sluices: as, a head-bay, an opening in a dam at the head of a flume or canal.
  • To bend.
  • To open the mouth, as for food; seek with open mouth.
  • To bark, as a dog; especially, to bark with a deep prolonged sound, as hounds in the chase.
  • To bark at; beset with deep prolonged barking.
  • To express by barking.
  • To drive or pursue so as to compel to stand at bay; chase or hunt.
  • To hold at bay.
  • noun A principal compartment or division in the architectural arrangement of a building, marked by buttresses or pilasters on the walls, by the disposition of the main ribs (arcs doubleaux) of the interior vaulting, by the placing of the main arches and pillars or of the principals of the roof, or by any other leading features that separate the design into corresponding parts.
  • noun The part of a window included between two mullions; a light. Also called window-bay.
  • noun A bay-window.
  • noun A compartment in a barn for the storage of hay or grain.
  • noun In carpentry, a portion of a compound or framed floor included between two girders, or between a girder and the wall.
  • noun In plastering, the space between two screeds. See screed.
  • noun Nautical, that part of a ship between decks which lies forward of the bitts, on either side; in a ship of war, the foremost messing-place between decks. See sick-bay.
  • noun In bridge-building, the portion between two piers.
  • noun In coal-mining: An open space for the gob or waste in a long-wall working.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from abai, cornering a hunted animal, from Old French, from abaiier, to bark, perhaps from Vulgar Latin *abbaiāre : Latin ad-, ad- + Vulgar Latin *badāre, to gape, yawn. V., Middle English baien, to bark, from abaien, from Old French abaiier.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French bai, from Latin badius.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French baee, an opening, from baer, to gape, from Vulgar Latin *badāre.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French baie, perhaps from baer, to open out, gape; see bay.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French baie, berry, from Latin bāca.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French bay, combined with apheticised form of abay; verbal form Old French bayer, abayer.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French baie, from Late Latin baia.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French baie, from Old French baé, masculine singular past participle of the verb baer, from Vulgar Latin *badō (“I am open”).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English baye, baie, from Old English beġ ("berry"), as in beġbēam ("berry-tree"), conflated with Old French baie, from Latin bāca ("berry").

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Examples

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  • "(He lifts his mutilated ashen face moonwards and bays lugubriously.)"

    Joyce, Ulysses, 15

    February 8, 2007

  • (color, adj): a hair coat color of horses, characterized by a reddish brown body color with a black mane, tail, ear edges, and lower legs. Without the black (or sometimes white on black) "points", a horse may not be classified as a bay (noun).

    January 4, 2009

  • Code for Baia Mare Airport - Baia Mare, Romania

    August 6, 2009

  • One of the most common colors, a bay horse has a brown or reddish-brown coat with black points (like black manes, tales, or legs).

    November 14, 2022